Finding a piece of clothing you love online is easy. Knowing exactly how to wear it can be much harder. Now, UK fashion brand Never Fully Dressed is attempting to solve that familiar shopping dilemma by bringing Persi AI-powered styling and personalisation technology into its online fashion experience.
The partnership puts artificial intelligence directly into the styling journey, with shoppers able to explore different ways of wearing an item, receive personalised outfit suggestions and even get help styling clothes they already own. Rather than simply encouraging customers to browse more products, the technology is designed to answer a more useful question: 'I like it, but how would I actually wear it?'
AI That Builds the Outfit for You
Persi has gone live with Never Fully Dressed with two key features designed to make online fashion shopping more personalised.
The first, Style Bundler, offers multiple shoppable ways to wear the item a customer is viewing. Instead of seeing one dress, top or jacket on its own, shoppers can explore different combinations built around that piece.
The second, AI Stylist, creates personalised looks based on a shopper's style, the occasion and what they are looking for. Persi says customers can also upload an item they already own and use the technology to find ways to style it.
That existing-wardrobe element could be particularly useful for shoppers who want to make more of the clothes already hanging in their wardrobes, rather than constantly searching for something new.
Liv Parkes, founder and CEO of Persi, said the collaboration made sense because Never Fully Dressed already places a strong emphasis on styling its pieces and showing customers their versatility.
'The biggest opportunity in fashion e-commerce isn't showing shoppers more products. It's helping them imagine more possibilities with the products they're already looking at,' Parkes said in a LinkedIn post announcing the partnership.
From Fashion Discovery to Fashion Styling
The difference is subtle but important. Traditional online fashion recommendations often ask what a customer might want to buy next. Persi's approach is focused on what a customer can actually do with the item they are already considering.
Imagine a shopper browsing a Never Fully Dressed dress online. Instead of deciding whether the dress works with the rest of her wardrobe alone, she could be shown several complete ways to wear it, potentially tailored to different occasions. A piece that initially seems difficult to style can become part of several outfits.
That could make the online shopping journey feel closer to having a personal stylist available at the point of purchase.
Persi says the technology is intended to make shopping easier for customers while creating potential commercial benefits for retailers. However, those commercial outcomes should be viewed as the company's proposition rather than established results from the Never Fully Dressed partnership.
Why Never Fully Dressed Fits the AI Experiment
The move is particularly fitting for Never Fully Dressed, whose identity has long been linked to versatile, multi-wear fashion.
Founded by British designer Lucy Aylen in 2009, the brand began with Aylen customising clothing in her parents' attic and selling pieces at markets including Portobello and Spitalfields. Never Fully Dressed says its multi-wear designs grew from those early market beginnings.
The brand now has flagship stores in East London and New York alongside its global online business. It also promotes inclusive sizing from UK 6 to 28 and says its fabrics and prints are designed in-house.
That history makes the Persi partnership more than a generic technology upgrade. Showing customers different ways to wear one item fits naturally with a brand whose proposition already centres on versatility and feel-good dressing.
A Bigger Shift in Online Fashion
Never Fully Dressed is also entering this new technology phase during a wider period of growth. Refined Capital Partners has announced an investment in the brand, describing it as a female-founded fashion business focused on inclusive sizing.
But it is the Persi partnership that could have the most immediate impact on how customers experience the brand online.
The appeal is straightforward. Shoppers do not always need more clothes. Sometimes they simply need to know what to do with the clothes they already love.
By bringing Style Bundler and AI Stylist into the shopping journey, Never Fully Dressed is betting that the future of fashion e-commerce is not just about helping customers find the right item. It is about helping them picture the outfit, understand its possibilities and answer that all-important question before they click 'buy': 'But how would I wear it?'
